My Nectar Hybrid mattress review puts the brand’s combination of springs and memory foam through its paces to see how it compares to the best mattresses Ideal Home has tested so far.
In a nutshell
Overall, I found the Nectar Hybrid mattress comfortable and supportive. Nectar suggests it's a medium-firm mattress, and I found it quite firm to begin with, but it soon softened up a little and I adjusted to its mix of memory foam cushioning with a micro-spring support layer.
I'm usually a front sleeper, but I found it comfortable for back and side sleeping too. And, although I don't consider myself to be a hot sleeper, I didn't have any problems with overheating.
I also found the mattress to offer a good middle ground between offering great motion isolation and good responsiveness.
Where the mattress struggled was with edge support. I found that the mattress dips considerably at the edges. I also found the off-gassing smell when I first unboxed it to be extremely strong. It took at least six weeks for this smell to fade. And, the lack of side handles made this heavy mattress tricky to rotate.
Beyond that, Nectar's delivery options are also limited with a surcharge for delivery to the room of your choice and no option of 'premium' delivery where the mattress is unboxed for you. So this mattress won't be accessible to everyone.
However, Nectar's 365-night sleep trial is the longest in the business. So if you think this mattress could suit you, that offers plenty of time to test it out in your own home and find out if it's the right fit for your bed frame and body.
Nectar Hybrid Mattress review
Specifications
Type: Hybrid
Construction materials: Memory foam and micro springs
Sizes: Single, Small Double, Double, King, Super King
Comfort level: Medium-firm, but I’d say it’s on the medium side
Height: 25cm
Side handles: No
Flip or rotate: Rotate
Manufacturer sleep trial: 365 nights
1. Comfort
Nectar claims that the mattress hits the ‘sweet spot for amazing sleep’, because it lands right in the middle of the soft-firm scale - well, 6.5, to be precise.
For the first week, I found the mattress very hard, but that was probably because I’d previously used a very soft memory foam mattress topper on a decade-old mattress. It wasn’t uncomfortable, though - just on the firmer side of the medium-firm feel I’d expected. After a few days, the mattress felt softer, and after two weeks, it felt a lot more comfortable.
When I lay on my side, I don’t sink very far into the mattress at all, and it provides excellent support. Spinal alignment is something that the Nectar Hybrid Mattress does achieve.
On my back, it’s very comfortable. My lower back is cushioned and supported without my hips dipping too low.
But I’m usually a front sleeper, and the Nectar Hybrid Mattress provided great support there, too. My hips don’t sink in too much, my back remains relatively straight, and I haven’t woken up with a bad lower back since I’ve had the mattress like I occasionally would in my old bed.
For a firmer mattress, I found it extremely comfortable to sleep on - and I never thought I’d make the conversion!
2. Motion isolation
I don’t have a partner, so I couldn’t test the motion isolation aspect, but the mattress is designed to minimise motion transfer - Nectar promises that you’ll be able to ‘move around freely without waking your partner or spilling your wine’. And, while I don’t want to test the wine theory, I’m willing to bet it’s true, because I tend to stay put in the position I fall asleep in all night long.
3. Responsiveness
That said, this mattress still feels responsive, though. I don’t find it difficult to roll over in the night, and I certainly don’t sink into the mattress enough to affect that.
I wouldn’t say the mattress is at all bouncy, especially compared to my previous mattress, but it’s plump enough to provide support when changing sleeping positions.
4. Temperature regulation
The Nectar Hybrid Mattress claims to have a quilted cooling cover, and beneath that, there’s an upper dynamic support layer of foam that Nectar say is breathable.
I can’t fault either of those claims - I’m not usually a hot sleeper, but I haven’t woken up overheating since testing the mattress - unless I piled the blankets on too high before bed, but I think that’s a given. In fact, the mattress doesn’t seem to retain much heat, which is great news for hot sleepers.
5. Edge support
The only parts of the mattress I feel lack support are the edges. There’s quite a lot of sinkage when I sit on the edge of the bed, so I wouldn’t want to sit there for too long without feeling like I’m wearing the mattress in some way.
For this reason, I feel that getting up off of the mattress after sitting on its edge could be difficult for some users.
Nectar doesn’t mention any edge support, and it’s clear that this isn’t a priority against the other features.
6. Sleep trial
A sleep trial offers you the opportunity to test out a mattress in your own home for a set number of nights before returning it if it doesn't offer you the support and comfort you need.
This is super useful as so many factors can affect how a mattress feels for each of us, from the type of bed frame we have, to our weight, and our preferred sleeping position.
Experts also advise that it can take up to 30 days (or nights) for our body to get used to a new mattress.
Terms and conditions apply, but Nectar offers the longest sleep trial in the business with a whopping 365 night sleep trial available on the Nectar Hybrid mattress.
7. Ease of care
The Nectar Hybrid mattress is a one-sided mattress that requires rotating regularly rather than flipping. Nectar advised rotating the mattress from top to tail every three months to ensure even wear and tear.
However, unfortunately, the brand doesn't provide any handles on the mattress to help you do this. And, because of the memory foam layers, this mattress is heavy, even in the smaller mattress size I tested. This makes rotating the mattress more difficult than it needs to be.
The mattress also doesn't have a removable top cover. But you can solve that problem easily and keep the mattress fresh by adding a washable mattress protector.
8. Delivery
Delivery of the Nectar Hybrid mattress was easy enough. The two-person delivery team from BJS Home Delivery was friendly, and they called me half an hour before arriving to let me know they were on their way. They carried the box into my hallway because there wasn’t enough space in my room to take it straight there – I had to dispose of my old mattress first!
However, Nectar does offer delivery to your room of choice for an extra charge (as of writing, that's £15). What it doesn't offer is premium or white glove delivery (that means the delivery team won't remove the mattress from its packaging for you, or install the mattress onto your bedframe).
Nectar also offers an old mattress removal service for £45, but it’s separate from delivery and the mattress can only be collected from outside of the property.
The mattress arrived rolled in a large box, but the box wasn’t as big as I expected - around a metre or so high and half a metre wide. Once I’d made space in my room for the mattress, I enlisted the help of my mum and sister to carry it upstairs. It was very heavy, and it’s definitely at least a two-person job.
Inside the box, the mattress is wrapped in plastic packaging and comes with a special knife to cut the plastic away without damaging the mattress.
As soon as you pierce the packaging, the mattress starts to expand, so I positioned the rolled-up mattress on my bed before opening it. The mattress doesn’t have side handles, so it was certainly easier to get it into the right position before opening.
Once the plastic packaging was removed, the mattress easily unfurled and I left it to expand. The instructions explained that it should be left for a minimum of three to five hours to expand, but it would take up to 48 hours for it to reach its full size. I left it for around six hours before putting my bed covers on.
After an hour or two, the off-gassing smell arrived, and it was very strong. I left my bedroom window open where possible, but the smell has lasted for a long time - there’s still a faint odour six weeks later.
9. Third-party reviews
Overall, Nectar gets mixed reviews on Trustpilot with an overall average of 3.3 out of 5 star ratings, as of writing.
Happy reviewers claim to be as pleased with the Nectar Hybrid Mattress as I am, with one reviewer saying, ‘So far the mattress is the best I have used all my life’. Reviewers with sciatica and hypermobility issues celebrate improved sleep, too, and the motion isolation is another bonus: ‘I don't get woken by my partner bouncing around next to me because I don't feel him move,’ says one reviewer.
However, other reviewers complain that the mattress has sunken on both sides after a year’s use, which might have something to do with the lack of edge support.
Other reviewers complain of bad backs and necks after using the mattress, with comments on the mattress being too firm, so it’s important to consider which firmness best suits your needs.
